On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 7:40 PM, Fernando Rodriguez <frodriguez.develo...@outlook.com> wrote: > > The law is not clear about that. But how can it not be a derived work if it > doesn't work without it? >
A is only a derived work of B if the law says it is. My pot isn't a derived work of my stove. My browser isn't a derived work of the kernel it runs on. Copyright law doesn't talk about interoperability when it comes to derived works. It talks about translations, adaptations, etc. These are derived works because they incorporate substantial portions of the original work. MST3K incorporates substantial portions of the movies they're parodying. Rifftrax does not. That is the difference. A kernel module does not incorporate substantial portions of the kernel. And interoperability is actually a legal defense against copyright. If the only way to make something interoperate with something else is to partially copy it, the court tends to view that as fair use. -- Rich
